


Who are you?

by GracefulCharity



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! - All Media Types, Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Blueshipping, F/M, Pre-Season 5, Reincarnation, True Love, after season 3, soul mates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-16 12:34:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28831278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GracefulCharity/pseuds/GracefulCharity
Summary: What is this sadness, pounding in my chest...?Kaiba sees a girl with white hair and a familiar face on the streets of Domino City. He cannot rest until he finds her again.
Relationships: Kaiba Seto/Kisara, Kaiba Seto/Original Female Character(s), Kisara/Priest Seto
Comments: 10
Kudos: 18





	1. Rats

It was that dream again, the one he could never remember when he woke up. The only way he knew it was the same dream was because it always left him with the same sense of loss throbbing in his chest, and the image of the Blue Eyes White Dragon still fresh behind his eyelids.

Kaiba closed his eyes and tried to return to the dream. It felt so close and vivid, like he could step right back into it if only he could just fall asleep before it disappeared entirely. Brilliant sunlight, and endless white sand. It was coming back to him as he let himself slip away. The Blue Eyes started to become clearer. A woman’s voice was calling him.

“Seto...”

No one called him Seto, except Mokuba.

He shaded his eyes with one hand and looked towards the dragon. No, not a dragon, a woman. A girl.

“Who are you?” he said.

The morning alarm chimed and the blinds on the window retracted steadily to reveal a grey, brooding sky. Kaiba was alone in his bedroom. Why had he thought he wasn’t? Had he spoken aloud just now or was that a dream? Had he been dreaming?

The clock on his bedside table read 06:00. He had to get to the tower for his 7AM meeting, then finish the budget reports, then chess with Mokuba, hardware testing, and on and on and on. There was no time for lying in bed chasing half-remembered dreams. Not for Domino City’s teenage billionaire CEO.

*******  
The wheels of the Bentley splashed through the puddles dotted along the road. Outside his window, Kaiba watched the seething crowds of commuters huddled under their umbrellas, scurrying up and down the pavements. Salarymen with bags under their eyes. Students wearing their uniforms, carrying umbrellas of every colour and design. These people should have been Kaiba’s peers, but he found no sympathy for them as he relaxed in the backseat of his luxury car. People his own age were imbeciles, with few exceptions. They obsessed over petty matters like entrance exams and interpersonal dramas. The office workers and middle managers were no better, exhibiting not one iota of individuality or creativity between them. Kaiba had no peers, among his own age group or otherwise. No wonder it was difficult to recruit competent employees when the city’s population was so pathetic. 

Something about the rain brought out the worst in them, as if they were rats clambering over each other to escape a sewer. Rather than just his usual cold indifference, Kaiba felt an additional prickle of disgust in the back of his throat.

Roland rolled the car to a stop in front of a red light. It was the third one they had waited at in the space of five minutes.

“What's the hold up?” asked Kaiba.

“It's a blocked drain, sir. They had to close the six-eleven southbound due to the overflow, and all the traffic has been re-routed this way."

How could a drain blockage cause such mayhem in modern day Japan? There was no excuse for it.

Pedestrians from every direction passed in front of the windscreen as they hurried to cross the intersection before the light changed back. Rats, all of them. If they had the chance, they would kill Kaiba and eat his corpse for a chance to escape their pitiful little lives.

Then Kaiba’s mind went blank as he caught a glimpse of long silver hair moving among the crowd. It struck him like a bolt of hot white lightning and fused him in place.

Pale, delicate hands clutched the handle of a blue umbrella, holding it low over the owner’s face. The girl was wearing a high school uniform, but she was not in any group walking together, as most students did on their way to school. She was alone.

Kaiba leaned forward, straining against his seatbelt to get a better look at her; The slight hunch of her shoulders, and the swing of her satchel with each step of her slender legs. Everyone else on the crossing disappeared, along with the cars, the buildings, the rain, and the world itself. The only thing the existed was the girl with the white hair, getting further away from him by the second.

Once she had made it to the opposite sidewalk, she was blocked from Kaiba’s view by the waiting cars. He scrambled to release himself from his seatbelt and open his door, then stood up for a better vantage point. He desperately searched the spot where the girl had disappeared but could no longer find her in the crowd.

Suddenly the cars around him were moving again and he became aware of himself. He quickly resumed his seat in the car and tried to understand what had just happened to him.

“Is everything alright, Mister Kaiba?” Roland asked.

“I thought I saw someone” he replied. That in no way explained his behaviour, but it was as close to an accurate answer as he could give.

Why had the girl caught his attention like that? He hadn’t even seen her face. There was nothing remarkable about her, except for having white hair.

He had recognised her. There was no other way to explain it. That was the reaction he had experienced. It was what the Greek philosophers called ‘anagnorisis’. And yet, he had no idea who she was and he was certain he had never met her before in his life.


	2. White

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaiba tries to find a cure fro his new obsession

For the rest of the morning, Kaiba tried to forget the white-haired girl. Through his meetings and phone calls, he forced his mind to focus on his work, but every time his attention wavered even slightly, he saw her. She walked across his mind’s eye in short, hurried steps that drowned out all other sound.

“Seto?”

The mention of his name whipped him back to reality, where Mokuba was sitting across from him, looking expectant.

“What?” asked Kaiba.

“Are you going to choose or what?”

Kaiba looked down to where Mokuba was holding out both his hands, coiled into downturned fists. Kaiba tapped one at random and Mokuba revealed the pawn inside.

“White again!” the kid exclaimed, passing it to him.

Kaiba recoiled and jumped to his feet. Just the word ‘white’ was enough to make him feel unsettled. It was ridiculous, of course, but there was nothing he could do about it.

“Are you alright?” asked Mokuba.

“I’m fine. I just have a lot to do today, so I’ll have to skip our game.”

“Did something happen?”

There was no way he could explain it to Mokuba without sounding insane. In fact, he probably was insane.

“Is there some kind of fashion craze for white hair at the moment?” Kaiba blurted out.

“You mean old people going gray?”

“No, I mean high-schoolers with white hair. Is that normal?”

“Are you talking about Bakura?”

Kaiba frowned. “No.”

How had he forgotten Bakura? Of course, there was nothing remarkable about white hair. No reason why it should catch his attention. It was stupid to even bring it up.

“Why do you ask?” Mokuba was looking up at him with a hint of concern in his round eyes.

“No reason.” Kaiba knew it would not convince his brother, but it would be enough to put an end to the conversation.

********  
The girls in the pictures looked too young to be in a catalogue like this, regardless of what the number under their photos said. Kaiba tried not to think of the kinds of men who usually paid to date these girls, and what they did to them on those dates.

There was nothing awfully wrong with any of the girls, but none of them caught his attention. Despite their various outfits and costumes, they all looked the same to him, and with no preference for any of them over the others, he found it difficult to choose one.

“Do you have any with white hair?” he asked the woman behind the desk of the love hotel.

“No, but we have a selection of wigs the girls can dress up in for you.”

Again, Kaiba felt disgusted by the business he was standing in, but what choice did he have? His mind would not let him do anything productive for thoughts of the white-haired girl. He couldn’t sleep. He certainly couldn’t duel. It was no good at all. The only explanation he could believe was that he had suddenly developed a taste for girls with white hair, and this was the only way he could think to satiate his desire discreetly.

“This one.” Kaiba pointed to a photo of a girl, almost at random. She had an innocent face, long brown hair, and blue eyes. The bio under the photo said she was 16. “Tell her she can have a hundred thousand yen if she dyes her hair white, on top of her usual fee, plus whatever the hairdresser charges.”

The woman’s eyebrows rose by a centimetre. Usually, common people had more of a reaction whenever Kaiba mentioned such large amounts of money, but in this business, his request was probably not so unusual.

“Yes, sir. And when would you like to meet her?”

“As soon as possible. Call me when she’s ready.”

“Of course, sir.”

*******  
She was not ugly. The hairdresser had done a good job making her hair look natural, and her makeup was tasteful.

“What school do you go to?” she asked politely.

“I don’t go to school” Kaiba said dryly.

“Sorry.” She covered her mouth with embarrassment. “You look so young I thought you must be a student.”

Kaiba was not in the mood to tell the girl his life story. He was sleep deprived, and the room they were sitting in made him feel uncomfortable; The dim rose-tinted lighting, the rotating bed that was not meant for sleeping, the sign on the wall reminding clients of the hourly rate. It was all so obvious.

At least the girl had not tried to jump on him as soon as he walked in. She just sat on the edge of the bed, fully dressed, with her legs crossed demurely at the knees.

“Stand up” said Kaiba.

She obeyed.

“Turn around.”

With two neat steps, she faced away from him.

From behind, she looked just like the girl Kaiba had seen at the crossing. Slender, pale, average height, with straight white hair flowing down her back.

Even so, it was useless, as Kaiba had expected all along. She was not her. It was not just a collection of physical characteristics he looking for, but one girl specifically.

Without a word, he crossed the room and opened the door to the hallway.

“Wait” said his date. She was facing him now. “There’s no need to be nervous. We can just talk.”

There was nothing he wanted to talk to a random high-school girl about. Only one topic was of interest to him at that moment, and there was no one on Earth he could discuss it with. 

“I’m not nervous” he said. “You’re just not what I was looking for.”

“Did I get the hair wrong?” She looked hurt, although Kaiba could not imagine why.

“You can keep what I paid you” he assured her. It was probably be the easiest money she would ever make.

“Thank you, but...” She fidgeted with the hem of her skirt. “Why did you pay me if you don’t want me?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“I know! I’m sorry for prying but I feel like I must have offended you somehow and I don’t want to do it again.”

Kaiba was feeling uncharacteristically generous, so he decided to humour her before he shut the door in her face.

“I had a question, and you gave me my answer.”

“Is there a girl?”

He froze, midway through the doorway.

“Is there a real white-haired girl who you like?” she asked.

Kaiba’s hand tightened around the doorknob. “That’s preposterous.”

He stepped out of the room and slammed the door behind him.


	3. The other guy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaiba seeks help from someone with experience

The final bell of the day rang out across the Domino High school yard. Students began empting out of the main building, starting with just a few at a time but quickly building to a heaving, noisy gaggle.

Outside the front gate, Kaiba watched them from the backseat of his Bentley, scanning the passing crowd with robotic precision. A few of their faces were familiar to him from his time attending the school, but none held any importance. He did not have to wait long for Yugi Motou and his gang of dweebs to come through the gate.

Kaiba climbed out of the car and stood in their path.

“Yugi” he said, looking down at the tiny duellist. “Need a ride?”

“No thanks, Kaiba, we’re all going to Grandpa’s shop” Yugi gave him an uncertain smile.

“That’s right, so get lost” barked the blond idiot, draping a protective arm around Yugi’s shoulders.

“No one’s talking to you, mutt” Kaiba snapped back, before he checked himself. He needed Yugi’s co-operation. “I need to talk to the other guy.”

“You mean the Pharaoh?” asked Yugi.

It sounded so stupid when he called him that. Did he not realise the other students walking past could hear him?

“Yes” said Kaiba.

“Well, like I said, we’re busy so - ”

“It’s important” Kaiba interrupted. “It’s about Egypt.”

Yugi looked behind at his friends, then back up to Kaiba.

“Okay.” He nodded sincerely, then parted from his friends with a wave. “I'll see you guys tomorrow.”

By the time he was in the backseat with Kaiba, he had that undeniable look in his eye that indicated the other Yugi was in control.

“What is it, Kaiba?” said Yami.

How to even begin? It was all so ridiculous.

“The vision we had at the Battle City finals. You said it was my past life” said Kaiba without a hint of sarcasm.

“Yes. You and I battled in ancient Egypt for the fate of the world.”

“But I don’t remember anything from that life.”

“Nor do I. But we both saw it, and the stone tablet in the museum is a historical record of the duel.”

Nothing new there. Kaiba was just stalling because he didn’t want to tell Yugi about what happened - he didn’t want to tell anyone – but it was the only way to get answers.

“Last week, I had another vision. It wasn’t like the other times. This one was real. I saw someone I recognised, but I don’t have any memories of them.” Kaiba knew what he was saying did not make sense, but Yami nodded as if he understood.

“Does that ever happen to you?” Kaiba asked. “For instance, did you recognise me when we first met?”

“No. I don’t have any memories from my life in Egypt.”

Dammit. This whole thing was a waste of time.

“Actually” said Yami. “Now that I think about it, it’s not just a coincidence that my favourite monster is The Dark Magician. I have always felt a strong connection to that card, probably because of the spirit that fought for me all those years ago. When I look at him, I recognise him, even though I have no memories of him. I remember what he meant to me.”

That sounded just like how Kaiba felt about the Blue Eyes White Dragon cards. He had been obsessed since the moment he had first seen one, as if he recognised the monster as his natural ally. His companion. It was a similar reaction to what he was now experiencing with the white-haired girl. Very similar, actually.

He took a deep breath. “Why was I born again into this time and place?”

“To coincide with my awaking, I assume.”

“So, sixteen years before Yugi put that pendant together and released you, my soul was reborn into this body in anticipation that event?”

“Yes.”

Kaiba had never believed in fate. His life and his future were a product of his own actions and nothing else. It was impossible that his own birth could be the result of something that had not yet happened. And yet... 

“Could other souls also have been born here too?” asked Kaiba. “People who are just walking around with no idea about who they used to be?”

Yami considered the question. “It’s possible, if they have a part to play in future events.”

So, that was Kaiba’s answer. It was simple, really. 

Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever is left, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. 

The white-haired girl was once important to Kaiba - as important as his Blue Eyes cards. That was why he recognised her, and why he was obsessed with her. 

“Thank you, Yugi” Kaiba said, finally.

The boy’s face returned to his usual expression of wide-eyed innocence. 

“No problem, Kaiba, but you should thank the pharaoh too.”

“Get out of my car.”

“Hey! You said you would take me home.”

When had Yugi started standing up for himself? 

“Fine” said Kaiba. “Roland, take us to the game shop.”


	4. Idiot

Domino city had only six high schools, and one of them was boys-only. The white-haired girl’s uniform had not been the pink and green colours of Domino High, which left only four possible schools. Finding out which one she attended was as simple as examining the various uniforms and seeing which matched the one she had been wearing the day he saw her.

Kaiba rescheduled his investor meeting to do the research.

North High. White blouse, navy blue skirt and matching necktie.

Kamiyama Private Academy. Maroon blazer, charcoal skirt, red necktie.

Riverview High. White blouse, green tartan skirt, forest green ribbon.

None of them stood out to Kaiba. He had seen them all at various times around the city, but he had no idea which of them the girl had been wearing. That was when he remembered that it was raining the day he had seen her. The more he dwelt on the memory, the more he became sure that she had been wearing a coat over her uniform.

No clues there, but it might still be possible to determine what school she attended. Kaiba brought up a map of Domino city on his monitor and found the intersection where he had seen her. There were no high schools nearby, but there was a train station just a hundred meters down the road, in the direction the girl had been walking. Tracing the train line through the city, he systematically examined the area around each stop until he found a high school within walking distance. Riverview High was only four stops from the station, but Kamiyama Private Academy was five stops away in the opposite direction. To complicate matters more, there was a transfer link only two stops away, where a different line lead to North High.

This whole exercise had been a waste of time. Kaiba had to admit that he had put off his investors for nothing. He leant back in his desk chair and revaluated the situation. This was certainly not the most illusive mystery he had ever tackled, but he was so tired that his mind was coming apart. What he really needed was rest but trying to sleep these last few nights had been an equally frustrating experience.

It was useless trying to devise an intellectual solution with his mind in such a state. He would need to use a brute force approach.

One of the few things he knew about the girl was the intersection she crossed over on her way to school. All Kaiba had to do was wait at that crossing where he had seen her, and she would fall right into his trap. (No, not a trap. It was a friendly ambush.) Better yet, if he waited there at the end of school day, she would lead him right to where she lived.

The trouble with such a direct approach was that he would have no information about her before their first meeting. He would just have to walk right up to her, without even knowing her name.

Well, he never would have gotten this far in life if he had been afraid of going above and beyond ordinary human behaviour.

*******  
“Are you Seto Kaiba?”

“No” said Kaiba.

“But you really look like-”

“Leave me alone, kid.”

Kaiba skewered the elementary schooler with a vicious look. If there were ever a day to test his patience, it was certainly not today. He had slept only a handful of hours over the last three nights, and he was now on the cusp of achieving the object of his obsession.

He was standing on the corner of the intersection with his arms folded, trying to look in every direction at once. Passers-by were giving him curious glances but he ignored them. He could not afford to break his concentration as he watched the streets.

A woman pushing a stroller.

Two middle school boys buying from at a vending machine.

A tight crowd of commuters pouring into the train station entrance.

A bus pulling over to the bus stop, where a line was waiting.

A man walking a dog while reading a magazine.

It all stopped in an instant when a flicker of white emerged from the train station crowd. It was her.

Kaiba didn’t breathe. He couldn’t. The blood in his veins was frozen in place.

The shock of seeing a glimpse of her the first time was nothing compared to seeing her in full now. He had waited thousands of years to see that exquisite face, yet she was still as familiar to him as his own reflection.

He could do nothing but stare as she approached, but as he watched he regained some consciousness of his surroundings. The enormous relief at seeing her was tempered with a growing apprehension.

Something was wrong.

The baby in the stroller was crying.

The boys at the vending machine were sprayed with foam as one of their cans exploded.

The bus blared its horn as an eighteen-wheel heavy goods vehicle cut it off from re-entering the traffic.

And the man reading the magazine was too distracted to notice his dog bolt towards the road, excited by the noise.

Kaiba erupted into a sprint towards the girl before he knew what he was doing. As his legs pumped beneath him, events were still unfolding in front of him. The dog pulled the lead out of its owner’s hand as it charged into the road, right in front of the truck.

The girl was still walking, oblivious to the action taking place behind her.

Kaiba was only half way to reaching her.

The truck swerved to avoid the dog and started to skid across the road. The brakes could not hold back the massive inertia of the vehicle.

The screeching of the tyres alerted the girl to the steel monstrosity mounting the sidewalk behind her. She whipped around to discover the source of the sound, when Kaiba was begging her to get out of the way.

Kaiba launched himself at her, covering the remaining distance between them in a full-on dive. The truck was an instant from crushing them both when Kaiba collided with the girl and his momentum sent them crashing through a shop window. They landed on the tiles in a heap of broken glass and tangled bodies, just as the truck crashed into the wall. 

In all the noise and confusion, Kaiba could only cling to the girl. Only when the cacophony of falling rubble had subsided did he look down at her face.

She was badly cut by the glass, but much more concerning than that was her limpness. Her eyes were closed and her expression completely serene, as if she were sleeping.

He scooped her into his arms and stared down at her face.

Kaiba had told no one of the vision he saw while duelling Ishizu, and had tried his best to forget it. The truth was that it was one of the most painful experiences of his life. He had not understood it, but there had been a profound sense of grief at the loss of something precious, and an overwhelming regret for his own part in it. Since his childhood, he had actively taken control of his own life and accepted the responsibility that came with that. It made his defeats sting that much more, knowing he had no one to blame but himself. That was what he felt during the vision: utter powerlessness at the knowledge that nothing he could do would bring back what he had lost due to his own mistakes.

Without any understanding of why or how, he knew with certainty that the girl he now held in his arms was the one he had held up to the Blue Eyes White Dragon tablet thousands of years ago. Though he had no idea who she was, he could still feel the pain of losing her like an open wound. It was the only memory that he retained from that life.

That was why he had become obsessed at the mere sight of her. She wasn’t just someone who used to mean something to him, she was the victim of a mistake that Kaiba had waited thousands of years to rectify.

The girl stirred, and her long white eyelashes fluttered. Then she was looking up at Kaiba with the most intensely blue irises he had ever seen, striking him with paralysing lightning.

Of course it wasn’t really possible to die from a tumble through a pane of glass, but Kaiba was still dizzy with relief to see her awaken.

“Idiot! You could have died!” he shouted in her face. “Watch where you’re walking.”

Her eyes grew wide and round.

“Who are you?” she asked in a whisper.

“I just saved your life,” Kaiba said gruffly, placing her on a patch of floor with no broken glass on it.

She sat up, keeping her gaze locked onto his face. “Thank you, but do we know each other?”

The bruises, lacerations, and possibly fractured ribs were all forgotten. The approaching sirens were drowned out by the blood rushing in Kaiba’s ears.

“I’m kind of famous. Seto Kaiba.” He tried to busy himself by checking his body for injuries while his stupid mouth kept vomiting words. “Billionaire CEO, child prodigy, champion duellist...”

The girl shook her head, more in disbelief than disagreement. “That’s not it.”

She leant closer to Kaiba, propping up her weight tentatively on one arm. He could not resist returning her searching gaze.

Her eyes were so big and so close that Kaiba felt he was in danger of drowning in them as she brought a hand up to brush his cheek.

“Who are you?”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading.
> 
> I greatly apprecaite any comments you care to leave. Thoughts, criticism, questions, anything.
> 
> I don't know if this story will continue or not, but if you want to see more, let me know what you think should happen next.
> 
> This work was inspired by the book The Night Lands, if you want to read more about souls in love, reunited after thousands of years. Just make sure to read James Stoddard's 2011 adaption ("a story retold"), not the original Victorian novel that is almost unreadable to modern audiences.


End file.
